My parents last names are both of Spanish origin. My mother's maiden name, as well as my grandmother's maiden name,are extremely common hispanic last name so it's really hard to learn much about our ancestry on that side My last name does not seem to be very common in the Dominican Republic, where both of my parents are from. It seems like there are much more people with my last name in Mexico. One of my father's cousins is very much into researching this kind of thing and has been able to gather information going back several generations in our family. It's pretty cool

.

[Edited 4/4/12 11:44am]

KingBAD said:

i'm so appreciative that this thread came about

if it hadn't i never would have given it a second thought,

(about not havin a last name) HOWEVER, after dwellin

on it for a day i did some diggin and sure enough I DO!!!

my name is KING BAD THEGREAT

who wouldda thunk it???

and YES, it is truly revealin as to whut my

heritage is, as i am the last of my kind

(i have only daughters) those before me

were NOTGREAT, KINDAGREAT, MAYBEGREAT,

NOTYETGREAT, and ALMOSTGREAT....

it's a pitty for the world that once you get THEGREAT

there will be no more, OH BUT I DO FEEL SAD FOR YOU!!!

and you get my side

vainandy said:

I could care less where my ancestors came from. I never knew them so that makes them complete strangers and if I did find out about them, I probably wouldn't like them anyway so why bother. Hell, I have no interest in some of my present relatives, let alone past ones. I'm my own person and none of them have anything to do with the person I am. My only interest is moving forward with my own life.

Me either. I have no interest whatsoever is learning about the family tree. One of my second cousins is really into geneology; she visited Ellis Island when she was in New York a few years ago. I find it all terribly boring.

When I was working at a small private school, the Executive Director got the bright idea to take a "staff building" trip to Ellis Island.

I was called into his office because I had said that I wasn't going. He wanted to know why...

I told him that I wasn't interested in it because I'm pretty sure my ancestors didn't go thru Ellis Island, they were tossed up on the shore.

He didn't press the issue anymore.

chocolate1 said:

When I was working at a small private school, the Executive Director got the bright idea to take a "staff building" trip to Ellis Island.

I was called into his office because I had said that I wasn't going. He wanted to know why...

I told him that I wasn't interested in it because I'm pretty sure my ancestors didn't go thru Ellis Island, they were tossed up on the shore.

He didn't press the issue anymore.

People are really clueless sometimes. I would have loved to have seen the look on his face when you told him why you weren't going!

It would seem mine also has Scottish links. And crusading knights. The former accounts for my heavy drinking I guess. The latter for my love of codpieces.

chocolate1 said:

When I was working at a small private school, the Executive Director got the bright idea to take a "staff building" trip to Ellis Island.

I was called into his office because I had said that I wasn't going. He wanted to know why...

I told him that I wasn't interested in it because I'm pretty sure my ancestors didn't go thru Ellis Island, they were tossed up on the shore.

He didn't press the issue anymore.

Some people are just really insensitive to other cultures and ethnicities-damn shame.

nursev said:

Who Knows? I think for African Americans this is truly a depressing topic-its a topic with a never ending subject. Most of us will never know our real origins and that's sad.

I've been considering doing that swab DNA test and putting myself in a database. Not sure if that would help, though....not for 200+ dollars anyway.

LadyLuvSexxy said:

nursev said:

Who Knows? I think for African Americans this is truly a depressing topic-its a topic with a never ending subject. Most of us will never know our real origins and that's sad.

I've been considering doing that swab DNA test and putting myself in a database. Not sure if that would help, though....not for 200+ dollars anyway.

I'm not trying to spend that kinda cash Imma go with Vainandy on this on-I'm focusing on my future

nursev said:

Who Knows? I think for African Americans this is truly a depressing topic-its a topic with a never ending subject. Most of us will never know our real origins and that's sad.

I agree. Sometimes i just want to change my last name to X instead of Smith.

Now the DNA swab im all for.

[Edited 4/4/12 16:27pm]

My Surname comes from the Anglo Saxon term for "Town" and the old English term for "Hill".

My Ancestors lived in a on a Hill in a small town.

At the same time, many of my surname ancestory fought in the American Civil War although we are initially English and there is a Well known Man who was a Slave and helped bring about the abolishment of Slavery. His first name was James and I would love to see anyone figure my surname out from that lot

I don't know if I would trust what I found when looking up a surname especially if the source doesn't take into account variations of names. Take the last name Moore. Most people would just assume that's of English origin and not consider it a variation of Moor as in those black Moors who invaded Europe.

Take the name Anniston relating to Jennifer Anniston. Its a made up name. Her real last name, or the name before her father changed it, was Annistakis which is Greek. She's only half Greek tho.

I think names are more complicated than we think and history/origin is more than a name.

itsnotallover said:

My Surname comes from the Anglo Saxon term for "Town" and the old English term for "Hill".

My Ancestors lived in a on a Hill in a small town.

At the same time, many of my surname ancestory fought in the American Civil War although we are initially English and there is a Well known Man who was a Slave and helped bring about the abolishment of Slavery. His first name was James and I would love to see anyone figure my surname out from that lot

Are you Winston Churchill?

TD3 said:

I can't rely on my name much, because some of my ancestors were adopted. (And if I had to think about my surname, I would only find out that my ancestors either liked travelling or were fond of rice )

However, I do know that my biological grandparents (and their ancestors) were all Austrian jews. My mum's family comes from Slovakia while a huge part is closely connected with Hungary. That's all I know.

BlackAdder7 said:

The video you have requested is not available. If you have recently uploaded this video you may need to wait a few minutes for the video to process.

if you say so

HotGritz said:

I don't know if I would trust what I found when looking up a surname especially if the source doesn't take into account variations of names. Take the last name Moore. Most people would just assume that's of English origin and not consider it a variation of Moor as in those black Moors who invaded Europe.

Take the name Anniston relating to Jennifer Anniston. Its a made up name. Her real last name, or the name before her father changed it, was Annistakis which is Greek. She's only half Greek tho.

I think names are more complicated than we think and history/origin is more than a name.

mmm hmm. there are multiple traditional variations of my family name. and sadly, children are not named according to their maternal line, so the entire history of that descendancy is lost.

XxAxX said:

HotGritz said:

I don't know if I would trust what I found when looking up a surname especially if the source doesn't take into account variations of names. Take the last name Moore. Most people would just assume that's of English origin and not consider it a variation of Moor as in those black Moors who invaded Europe.

Take the name Anniston relating to Jennifer Anniston. Its a made up name. Her real last name, or the name before her father changed it, was Annistakis which is Greek. She's only half Greek tho.

I think names are more complicated than we think and history/origin is more than a name.

mmm hmm. there are multiple traditional variations of my family name. and sadly, children are not named according to their maternal line, so the entire history of that descendancy is lost.

my (paternal) great grandfather was English: Anderson married a Native-American woman their child married a black woman

My family is originally from the Philippines, but my surname is Chinese in origin. Based on the dialect that's spoken by the Chinese that emigrated there, it translates to Wu . The funny thing is, my co-worker's surname is Wu, so I told her yesterday we maybe cousins

I don't know my last name...

smoothcriminal12 said:

I don't know my last name...

Come again?

Timmy84 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

I don't know my last name...

Come again?

Slavery and whatnot.

Besides that, I'd probably never be able to find my family.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Timmy84 said:

Come again?

Slavery and whatnot.

Besides that, I'd probably never be able to find my family.

Oh lol that's the case with a LOT of us... I'm not that sad about it though. I'll find out eventually. I wonder what African country my momma's and dad's ancestry resides in. That's what I'm interested in as well as my European background (I don't think I got American Indian anywhere in me lol).

[Edited 4/5/12 13:51pm]

smoothcriminal12 said:

Timmy84 said:

Come again?

Slavery and whatnot.

Besides that, I'd probably never be able to find my family.

It's both easier and not easier to find families now. Some families are simply gonna be lost to antiquity, but that's fairly rare. You still had to declare slaves to the census enumeration peeps. Now that we can go as recent as 1940, you can begin to find a trail of breadcrumbs beginning with your grandparents.

Ancestry.com is free for like 2 weeks if you cancel within that time. I recommend people actually check it out and try it. Even with different spellings of surnames, often times you will STILL find all of the variations linked together via the site's software. Census stuff is pretty accurate, though, all things considered.

There were a few "problem" people in my line that I found, but I typically was able to find people adjacent to them in some way. Just takes patience and a little detective action. The Truth Is Out There.

[Edited 4/5/12 14:20pm]

Timmy84 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Slavery and whatnot.

Besides that, I'd probably never be able to find my family.

Oh lol that's the case with a LOT of us... I'm not that sad about it though. I'll find out eventually. I wonder what African country my momma's and dad's ancestry resides in. That's what I'm interested in as well as my European background (I don't think I got American Indian anywhere in me lol).

[Edited 4/5/12 13:51pm]

I know I have some Dutch in me and Native American, but it's so marginal that it doesn't even count. Even though my father's side comes from Jamaica, on my Mom's side we have a bit of African-American in us. (Depends on how you define it, tbqh. I got some ancestors from Detroit who stem back from a long time ago.)

Spinlight said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Slavery and whatnot.

Besides that, I'd probably never be able to find my family.

It's both easier and not easier to find families now. Some families are simply gonna be lost to antiquity, but that's fairly rare. You still had to declare slaves to the census enumeration peeps. Now that we can go as recent as 1940, you can begin to find a trail of breadcrumbs beginning with your grandparents.

Ancestry.com is free for like 2 weeks if you cancel within that time. I recommend people actually check it out and try it. Even with different spellings of surnames, often times you will STILL find all of the variations linked together via the site's software. Census stuff is pretty accurate, though, all things considered.

There were a few "problem" people in my line that I found, but I typically was able to find people adjacent to them in some way. Just takes patience and a little detective action. The Truth Is Out There.

[Edited 4/5/12 14:20pm]

That's true. Do you think it would work for Jamaica though?

smoothcriminal12 said:

Timmy84 said:

Oh lol that's the case with a LOT of us... I'm not that sad about it though. I'll find out eventually. I wonder what African country my momma's and dad's ancestry resides in. That's what I'm interested in as well as my European background (I don't think I got American Indian anywhere in me lol).

[Edited 4/5/12 13:51pm]

I know I have some Dutch in me and Native American, but it's so marginal that it doesn't even count. Even though my father's side comes from Jamaica, on my Mom's side we have a bit of African-American in us. (Depends on how you define it, tbqh. I got some ancestors from Detroit who stem back from a long time ago.)

Hmm interesting. I got told we have English and Irish at least in my mother's side. My great-grandparents I can trace in both North Carolina and Virginia. I've even heard that both sides of my family knew each other and probably had relatives. I think the deeper one goes, the less one's mixed ancestry shows up in your racial complexion but it shows sometimes.

Timmy84 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

I know I have some Dutch in me and Native American, but it's so marginal that it doesn't even count. Even though my father's side comes from Jamaica, on my Mom's side we have a bit of African-American in us. (Depends on how you define it, tbqh. I got some ancestors from Detroit who stem back from a long time ago.)

Hmm interesting. I got told we have English and Irish at least in my mother's side. My great-grandparents I can trace in both North Carolina and Virginia. I've even heard that both sides of my family knew each other and probably had relatives. I think the deeper one goes, the less one's mixed ancestry shows up in your racial complexion but it shows sometimes.

Yeah, it's interesting to know. Hopefully one day I get enough money to find out which part of Africa and which tribe both sides originate from, although I suspect my Dad's side might be harder to do.